Google’s Android: An iPhone killer

The latest prototype of the Google’s android is far improved from all the earlier versions. Based on a 528MHz Qualcomm processor, the smartphone uses a Synaptics capacitive touchscreen and the UMTS cellular standard. The prototype has 128MB of RAM and 256MB of flash. The platform is designed to be very generic, it is supposed to work with touchscreen devices, D-pad devices, trackball devices and other devices that might not even have a screen.

The device has a desktop-like launcher of applications where you can put aliases and icons on the desktop and get a spatial-representation of workflow. Much of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) can be interacted with. Pulling down the title bar, for instance, reveals missed calls and new messages, all using the familiar palette of swipes and taps. Also, there is a straightforward way to create shortcuts on the home screen; it’s just a matter of holding down your finger and then following the contextual menus.

The compass and accelerometer based Street View is also a newly added application. The Street View gets the Android treatment with a built-in compass that lets you pan around the location-based image, turning the handset into something of an augmented reality device.

The unlock mechanism is very different. It has a clever pattern-based unlock screen that allows the device learn the user’s gesture to unlock it for security and sleep purposes. Users can customize how they want to unlock their android.

The Android experience matches that of the desktop for Google Maps. All of the usual mapping options are present—satellite views, traffic, etc. and, with a 3G network these load and update quickly. All time favorite games like pacman are available on android. Google recently announced six new games to help you make it through any boring day. These games include Wi-Fi Army, SpaceBugs, Parallel Kingdom, and Monolith Android. They’re still pretty early in development, but by the time Android is released to the world, I’m sure they will be all polished up.

The Google’s android may be available this fall so those who are going to buy the new release of the iPhone, may wish to wait for this innovation.